Posted on 03/19/2012 9:27:17 AM PDT by STARWISE
The elder daughter of US President Barack Obama is spending her springbreak in the historic Mexican city of Oaxaca in the company of 12 friends, a state police official said.
*snip*
"We are here to block access to the hotel by other people and escort the vehicles that are carrying the visitors to tourism sites," the police official told AFP under the condition of anonymity.
Malia Obama and her friend are guarded by 25 US Secret Service agents as well as Mexican police, the official noted.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“The Obamas will refund the cost as they do on all the vacations that are not official trips. Why some of you don’t get that is beyond me. They used to say the same thing about the Bush’s and Clinton’s. There are very strict rules on federal government travel. If you read the federal travel guidelines you would know. It is in the FTR manual.”
There are very strict rules about qualifications to the presidency as well. If you read Article 2 you would know. It is in the US Constitution.
You are making unwarranted assumptions. 0 is breaking, stretching and bending the laws left and right, but we’re supposed to assume that the First Mooches are not grifting here as well? No First Lady has ever butted heads with the WH travel office?
I won’t believe they are complying with the FTR rules until I see an authenticated FOIA response, a request they would ignore, like a subpoena duces tecum.
Let’s compare the the quantity and quality of the Bushs’ vacations to the 0s’. And Hitlery was always dragging her daughter along on `fact-finding’ tours (actually dodging sniper-fire!) so I doubt we were reimbursed.
She looks lost, like she doesn’t know what she should be doing, or how to relate with the other girls.
My 12 year old grandaughter never looks that out of place or lonely.
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
I doubt it. For example, how much does the US Government charge for the carriage of say, “Michelle Obama’s 40 most intimate friends”, on US Government Aircraft? How were these “intimates” taxed? Who or what agency will the families of the Obama kid’s friends pay for their carriage on the same aircraft to Oaxaca?
Obama, the Good Family Man, sends his young daughter to Mexico for spring break. Mexico? Even with a load of SS agents, that’s one of the last places I’d send my kid.
I wonder what group she’s going with. Is this an organized educational trip, or is this the administration’s sick way of trying to show just how safe Mexico is?
Lol, they change government travel rules like Michael Jordan changes Haynes underwear.
Right now it’s pay up front on a Citi CC and get reimbursed for “the little people”.My wife is still waiting for $2,000 for a TDY last year. She still has not been reimbursed for her travel to Bagram.
The fact that some government employees protected on high (or those on high) can fudge “official” duties and rape the tax payer is not reassuring anyway regardless of your words. Those who oversee the cost know they are playing with “other people’s money” which means oversight is lacking. Congress is sure as hell packing it in, not wanting to rock the boat.
These service projects are elitist crap. Local churches do it. Teenagers are supposed to raise $2000, soliciting from friends and relatives and neighbors. Then they fly down to Mexico, one week of tourism, one week of working on a house. Some Mexican family gets a house built with amateur labor, the kid gets to say he’s seen how the rest of the world lives, after two weeks, and check off service and international cultural awareness on his college resume.
Raise half the money mowing lawns and babysitting, send it to a functional aid organization and employ some Mexicans. That would be too humble, wouldn’t it.
Will Ohaha ever stop sucking up to get the latino vote?
:: Who lets their kid go to Mexico with no parents? ::
Who lets their kid go to Michael Jackson’s Neverland with no parents?
Same mindset...
If this is a standard program for Sidwell, and charitable work is part of the trip, I’m surprised that point wasn’t reported in the article. Sounds like spin from Sidwell to me. All the article says is that the Secret Service is keeping the public away from the hotel, along with escorting the vehicles to tourism sites. Don’t know too many groups that stay at a hotel to do charitable work. Having to send 25 agents to guard one 13 year old seems a bit overkill for a supposed charitable event, especially since the rest of the kids aren’t privy to Secret Service protection. I doubt Prince Harry had that many watchers when he was in Afghanistan.
Yes, I too have several friends who have done these trips with church groups. I’ve always wondered how much work actually gets done, and I’ve never doubted that simply donating the airfare to a reliable charity would get more accomplished. The real justification for these trips is the educational value for the participants. It’s like the Peace Corps in that regard.
For eighth grade girls, getting a closeup of third world poverty will be an eyeopener. At the same time, for eighth grade girls, the international travel and tourism are legitimate learning experiences as well. I don’t object to a place like Sidwell putting their kids on a plane from time to time. The parents can afford it (although Sidwell is a financial sacrifice for those we know), and the educational purpose seems sound enough.
Good grief. She’s what? 13?
Why does she need to go Mexico?
Why are we paying for her airfare? (I don’t have proof but she most certainly didn’t fly commercial)
Did her friends fly with her?
The questions go on and on...
“Granted, having 25 Secret Service guys along changes the chemistry. The management of Presidential kids imposes some challenges, but I’m generally in favor of giving them as normal a school experience as possible.”
We do that too, with our homeless kids in the city. We try to get them places to shower and change and eat in the schools. Sometimes that doesn’t work and they go to school less than “fresh.” Too many homeless and not enough shelters.
It would be nice if the Clown in the Box would have paid attention to the lesser people in the country, but hey, at least his kid gets a nice time.
And, btw, this isn’t going away no matter how you spin this and how much you DNC gamesters try to make this into a positive.
Exactly.
Freedom: the government fears the people.
Tyranny: the people fear the government.
That said, all presidents and their families should be afforded reasonable protection for their personal safety. This trip seems highly unreasonable to me, however.
Chelsea Clinton went to Sidwell, did she take a trip like this?
You'd think she'd gotten enough eye openers traveling overseas with her parents and mother...like her trip to Africa.
Yup. If we ever want to get back to a semblance of sanity in this country, we have to stop thinking of Presidents, Senators, etc. as "celebrities."
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